This major new edition fulfils the need for a single-volume, up-to-date information resource on the etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of skeletal muscles, including the muscular dystrophies, mitochondrial myopathies, metabolic myopathies, ion channel disorders, and dysimmune myopathies. As background to the clinical coverage, relevant information on advances in molecular and developmental biology, immunopathology, mitochondrial biology, ion-channel dynamics, cell membrane and signal transduction science, and imaging technology is summarized. Combining essential new knowledge with the fundamentals of history-taking and clinical examination, this extensively illustrated book will continue to be the mainstay for practising physicians and biomedical scientists concerned with muscle disease. Regular updates on the clinical and basic science aspects of muscle disease - written mainly by rising stars of myology - will be published on an accompanying website. • Accessible, scientifically based clinical content with relevant translational science summarized • Expanded, high profile author team gives the content authority • Regular updates published on-line Contents Preface; Foreword John Walton; Part I. The Scientific Basis of Muscle Disease: 1. Structure and function of muscle fibres and motor units Mary Kay Floeter; 2. Myogenic precursor cells Miranda D. Grounds and Frederic Relaix; 3. Biochemical and molecular basis of muscle disease Susan Brown and Cecilia Jimenez-Mallebera; Part II. Investigation of Muscle Disease: 4. Electromyography and related techniques Eric Logigian and Emma Ciafaloni; 5. Histopathology and immunoanalysis of muscle Caroline A. Sewry and Maria J. Molnar; 6. Ultrastructural study of muscle Anders Oldfors; 7. Diagnostic imaging of muscle Eugenio Mercuri and Marianne de Visser; Part III. Description of Muscle Disease; Section 1. General Aspects: 8. The clinical assessment and a guide to classification of the myopathies David Hilton-Jones and John T. Kissel; 9. The principles of molecular therapies for muscle diseases George Karpati and Renald Gilbert; Section 2. Specific Diseases: 10. Dystrophinopathies Michael Sinnreich; 11. Muscular dystrophies presenting with proximal muscle weakness Mariz Vainzof and Kate Bushby; 12. Dystrophies and myopathies of early childhood onset Carsten G. Bönnemann and Enrico Bertini; 13. Congenital myopathies Carina Wallgren-Pettersson and Nigel G. Laing; 14. Muscle diseases with prominent muscle contractures Gis?le Bonne and Anne K. Lampe; 15. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy Shannon L. Venance and Rabi Tawil; 16. Distal myopathies Bjarne Udd; 17. Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy Bernard Brais; 18. Myotonic dystrophy John Day and Charles Thornton; 19. Mitochondrial myopathies and related disorders Patrick F. Chinnery and Eric A. Shoubridge; 20. Metabolic myopathies John Vissing, Stefano DiDonato and Franco Taroni; 21. Muscle ion channelopathies and related disorders Bertrand Fontaine and Michael G. Hanna; 22. Inflammatory and dysimmune myopathies Marinos C. Dalakas and George Karpati; 23. Myasthenia gravis and myasthenic syndromes [autoimmune and genetic] Amelia Evoli, Hanns Lochmüller and Violeta Mihaylova; 24. Endocrine and toxic myopathies Zohar Argov and Frank L. Mastaglia; 25. Myofibrillar myopathy Duygu Selcen; 26. Hereditary inclusion body myopathies Zohar Argov and Stella Mitrani-Rosenbaum; 27. Other myopathies Giovanni Meola and Michael Swash.